The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015, are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 23, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

Many today may be vexed having to hoof 500 yards to school or work, but imagine walking 500 miles to get an education. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), the formidable subject of Jabari Asim’s eleventh book and first picture book biography, did just that, leaving his home in Malden, West Virginia and trekking hundreds of treacherous miles through the mountains of Virginia to reach Hampton Institute, where former slaves like him were free to study and read what they pleased. Though ...

Set in Renaissance Italy, Victoria Strauss’Passion Bluemay be geared toward teens, but with its page-ripping intrigue and riveting glimpse of life behind the convent walls, even older readers are sure to swoon. When 17-year-old Giulia Borromeo, the illegitimate daughter of a count and a seamstress, becomes orphaned and learns she’s to be sent to a convent, she consults an astrologer for a talisman to help secure her dreams of a husband other than Christ. But in the convent ...

In her first book-length study, Marie Claire contributing editor Yael Kohen takes a serious look at women in the funny business. Carol Burnett descended the stair draped with a curtain rod, Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers lamented the throes of living with Fang and Edgar, Mary Tyler Moore tossed her beret into the Minneapolis sky, Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine set the switchboard alight, Roseanne Barr revealed the plight of the working-class ‘Domestic Goddess,’ Ellen DeGeneres came out on national television ...

In Monsieur Marceau, her stunning collaboration with illustrator Gérard DuBois, Leda Schubert puts into words the life of one of the world’s most gifted silent performers, Marcel Marceau.

For over 50 years, Marceau (1923-2007) dazzled audiences everywhere as a mime of unparalleled skill. YouTube devotees may still catch in action the man who taught Michael Jackson to moonwalk and brought to international acclaim a white-faced, hapless adventurer named “Bip.” But here alongside his artistry, which DuBois captures in arrestingly ...

In April 2004, many Americans were shocked and saddened to hear of the heroic death of Pat Tillman, the bracingly handsome Arizona Cardinal who had taken leave from a successful NFL career to enlist in the Army—none more so than his wife, Marie.

But when the story of Tillman’s Silver Star-worthy sacrifice in an ambush in Afghanistan devolved into a high-level cover-up of accidental friendly fire, public outrage and congressional inquiry thrust the Tillman family into the national spotlight as ...

Fast-forwarding a few centuries from her usual Arthurian-adventure milieu, Elizabeth Wein captures the heart-stopping drama of modern war inCode Name Verity,a gripping spy novel centered on the friendship of two young women in World War II Britain.

When secret agent “Verity” is caught by the Gestapo, much like Scheherezade, she promises to write down the details of her mission in hopes of prolonging her life and avoiding further torture. The narrative she weaves recounts the history of her ...

Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems, herfifth book and first poetry collection, includes 23 delightful ocean poems—some serious, others brilliantly playful and light—set alongside Meilo So’s suggestive watercolors just teeming with the hues, movement, and wonders of sea and shore. Though she ...

Poet Stephanie Hemphill has a bent for history and dark subjects, having unleashed her signature novel-in-verse prowess with prize-winning results before on Sylvia Plath (Your Own, Sylvia, 2007) and the Salem witch trials (Wicked Girls, 2010).

But in Sisters of Glassshe turns to a literally lighter topic, glassmaking in 15th-century Venice, to conjure up a page-ripping family drama involving two sisters torn between tradition and following their hearts. We were eager to speak with the Illinois native to learn ...

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